Sword Art Online: Undying
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: I've lived for an eternity; going through the motions. Alive, yet dead at the same time. I was a walking corpse. I cared for nothing. Not even myself. Nothing at all. Until someone told me about a game. A place where I could lose myself. Become someone else. Perhaps that was the moment when everything changed; when I became trapped in a game. Double crossover! Narutoxharem! Vote!
1. Trapped

**A/N: Alright! After being pestered for so long I've finally dug my claws into this idea, into Sword Art Online. Now y'see, I didn't know where or when to place it at first, didn't want to alter too much. But then it hit me. What does it have no short of? Ideas! Almost anything can happen in this game ya know? Now, screwing around with canon is one thing. But messing with it as a whole...**

**...now that's a whole new can of worms. Off we go! This is also my first attempt to write a first person story. There will, of course, be third-person increments as well, but Naruto's perspective will mostly be told in the first for this story after this chapter, unless I get a massive outpouring saying it should be otherwise. So...**

**...please be nice! On another note, there might be a few .Hack references characters in this!**

_"You just HAD to say yes, didn't you?"_

_~?_

**Trapped**

_It all started with a game._

But before all that, before we delved into the story-and what story it is!-I want to state, for the record, that immortality is a _bitch and a half_ to live through. You do not want it, you do not need, and, most certainly, you do not want to _live_ with it. Take it from someone whose learned the hard way, folks. You do not want to live forever. It sucks.

There, I've said it.

Still, when you've lived as long as I have, you do what you can to pass the time. You know, entertain yourself, and the like. I don't _think_ of myself as broken, but then again, I'd be lying if I said my views on life were not signifigantly skewed compared to what they'd once been. You don't take the chakras of _nine_ bijuu, shove it in a human body, and expect to have a short life. Then again, when you're forced to take all that chakra and forge it back into the beast known as the Ten-Tails; _then_ use it to slaughter your best friend?

Shit gets a _liiiiiittle_ skewed.

But that's in the past. This strange, painful, wonderful story started with a game.

Contrary to popular belief, I haven't done much with my immortality since the year two thousand. When you're Undying-as I've taken to calling myself-casual things like going out swiftly lose their meaning. I'd fought in a few wars, saved a few lives, but by the time 2022 rolled around, I really wasn't doing all that much with my life outside of work.

Yup. Total workaholic. I ran one of the most successful bussiness firms in the world, won a few Gold medals for Japan in the Olympics, and was currently contemplating whether I should marry my longtime supermodel girlfriend of three years. I know what you're thinking; if you're going to live forever, why bother getting married? You'll just outlive her, right? Yeah, but mind-blowing sex has a way of influencing your opinion. Leaving was always an option but I loathed the idea of being alone. Saki was a nice enough girl; sadly, she didn't have much of a _brain_ under those ebon tresses.

Ignore the ugly reality I needed to use henge-which I abused the hell out of-to disguise the fact that I was eternally trapped at the unpleasant age of twenty, and life was basically roses for me.

Yeah, that's the life, am I right?

_Wrong._

On the outside, I was just going through the motions, smiling for the people and the cameras. Inwardly, I felt dettached. Disconnected. I wasn't in love; I just told myself I was. The capacity to feel for someone was all but buried by the pain of the last two thousand years. I'd watched villages burn, stood helpless as innocents were put to the torch during the Inquisition. Stood at ground zero, as the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They didn't kill my body, but they killed something else. My heart.

I suppose you could say games were a way to escape the painful reality in which I found myself. I, once someone who focused solely on work, gradually began to devote more and more time to it.

I'd play the occassional MMORPG-that is, Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game- from time to time, so when I saw Sword Art Online I figured what the hell? I was wealthy, a workaholic and a total recluse even at the best of times, wholly disenfranchised with the world after having seen it at is very worst, and having no hope to see its best. When someone offered me a free pass to the beta I played it, if not wholy out of sheer boredom. It was made by some bigshot, Akihiko Kayaba, I think his name was.

Playing his game was like stepping into another world.

All thanks to alittle something called the Nervegear.

It's the name of the hardware that runs Sword Art Online, this VRMMORPG-A Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Onlin Role Playing Game. This machine is fundamentally different from your average TV gaming console in every way.

I suppose I could bore you with the tech; but I'll just summarize it. Its basically a single interface that takes all five of your senses out of this world, and plugs them into the game itself. You didn't just play the game-it had no controller to play with. _You_ were the controller.

You leapt into the game.

The sheer impact of this experience profoundly enchanted many gamers, but it made me anxious.

Curiosity played a major part in taking that first, tentative step into the online world. I wasn't exactly keen on surrendering my senses to some interface; it reminded me far too much of the Infinite Tsukiyomi. Call me skittish if you will, but hey, after what I'd been through, I was justifiably nervous. No sooner had I logged on than I logged off again, yanking the Nervegear off just to make certain I could. That I wasn't trapped in the game, locked in a world with no escape.

Oh, the irony.

I often wonder what might've happened if destroyed my Nervegear back then, after that first fateful dive. Just taken it in my hands and crushed it into a ball of scrap. I certainly wouldn't be the same person I am today at any rate. My heart certainly wouldnt hurt as it did now. But I wouldn't have met them. My life wouldn't have changed. Ah, but I digress.

As my fears of being trapped in a virtual reality began to recede, I actually enjoyed the beta, which was amusing enough. But what hooked me -eerie as it might sound- was the class system. Shinobi. There was a class system based on...well, me. Okay, not me per se, but chakra. It was all there. Techniques, skills, the way I'd seen others fight. You could build your character from the ground up, which I did, but, from there it was left to you to play. I was summarily freaked out. The shinobi class was...different than others. The skills you could use were limitless. You could even be part of a clan and inherit all the unique abilities that came with.

Uchiha. Kaguya. Hyuuga. Uzumaki. And more. All unlockable.

I should have realized something was wrong then, but like a fool, I plowed onward in pursuit of my new goal. My only lead. The game. I knew it was likely a trap, but I persisted. Even after all those years, my stubborn streak persisted.

Either someone had done a helluva lot of research into the past-or I wasn't the only one who'd survived into this era. I was consumed by the idea. Possessed. Maybe I wasn't the only one. There might be others. It was like a spectre, haunting my every thought. But there were no leads. I even met Akihiko Kayaba in person through the company; he was just a normal guy. Nothing special or unique about him beyond the way that he'd skyrocketed to fame. I grilled him relentlessly under the guise of an FBI agent-gotta love henge-but he insisted he had no idea what I was talking about. Funny thing...he was telling the truth. In a sense.

Inquiry after inquiry fell flat; my attempts to search through other sources failed miserably.

Eventually, the trail went cold. Once more, my only lead was the game.

Eventually I met someone who seemed to take an avid interest in the game as well, though not for the history nor the idea that there was a shinobi class. A boy named Kirito. Eventually, we started sharing our opinions on what we thought of it. Perhaps it was the fact that he was also a recluse, but I found myself growing to enjoy his company. I knew that, unllike me, he probably didn't look at thing like his avatar, few did. Regardless of the fact, I allowed him to get close. I exchanged the occasional mail with him, complained about the bugs in the beta, reveled when we conquered a boss.

Eventually, I made a friend. For the first time in almost two thousand years, an actual friend. Then another. And another.

We played Sword Art Online through the beta, and were practically the first to log in once it was opened to the public.

Then everything changed.

* * *

><p>"Ow!"<p>

Kirito twisted aside as a warning message opened before his eyes, momentarily blinding him. Presenting an opening. His opponent was quick to captilaze on this brief distraction; their tri-pronged blade flashing like an irate bolt of lightning, leaving him hissing softly, as they got a free hit in against him, raking across his left arm. _Just a scratch. It was just a scratch. So why...am I...so damaged?!_ His eyes tracked his depleting health bar and grimaced, as it shrank even further, green turning to yellow to orange, before his very eyes. It hovered just over red, mocking him.

Staggering backward he found his legs swept, the savage sweep sending him sprawling to the ground. His head rang from the blow, stars spangling before his vision. Ouch...

"What's the matter, Kirito?" A black boot entered the field of his vision, nudging at his cheek. "You can do better than that!"

Growling, the blackette launched himself up at his opressor-

-and landed on his ass.

"Looks like someone's getting rusty~!" Naruto stood over him resplendent in bright orange armor, the thin ablative plate glistening an eerie mercury color in the fading light. For someone so lightly armored, he seemed to possess an inhumanely high defense attribute; not to mention dexterity. _Damn but he was hard to hit!_

"Alright, alright," he groaned, picking himself up and forfeiting the duel. "I give. I don't want to die and lose all my experience again...

"That's my tenth win, then!" the blond crowed, patting himself on the back. "All hail me!"

The field around them was brilliantly illuminated by sunlight just beginning to take on a bloody tinge of red. Far to the north lay the silhouette of a forest, while a lake sparkled to the south, and the walls of a town couldbe faintly glimpsed to the east. To the west was nothing but endless sky and clouds.

They were standing in a field to the west of the Town of Beginnings, the starting area at the south edge of the very first floor of Aincrad. Countless other players were no doubt fighting each other or monsters of their own in the vicinity, but the scale of this space was so vast that none were within eyeshot. It was an all-encompassing isolation from reality, more than worthy of the term.

Finally satisfied, Naruto returned his kunai to the holsters on his arms and approached, scanning the horizion with him.

"Nice, ain't it?" he said. "Hard to believe this is all in a game."

"Just because we're inside doesn't mean our brains are actually seeing-

"Bah, don't ruin it with science!"

"You're ridiculous, you know that?" Kirito spoke through pursed lips like a pouting child, his shoulders hunched. Naruto grinned cheekily.

"Don't I know it?"

When he maintaned a serious expression, he could have been the lead actor in a period piece, but somehow Kirito doubted this was his real life appearance. While Naruto swore up and down that this really _was_ his face IRL, the swordsman suspected it was nothing more than a virtual avatar created from scratch out of a robust list of finely tuned parameters.

Naruto continued in a strong and clear voice, also likely to be falsified. "You know, I'm really glad I met you-

_"NARUTO!"_

"What in the_-ooommph!"_ Whatever else he might've said ended in a strangled grunt as someone tackled him from behind, sending the ninja tumbling head over heels in a mighty heap. Kirito sweatdropped. He'd almost forgotten about the third member of their little group. The ghost of a smile tugged at his face as he recognized her; that scarlet bob of hair and ponytail, body wrapped in dark outfit concealing to a lean figure most girls would would've killed for. A chuckle forced its way past his lips Ah. Energetic as ever, it seemed.

Naruto didn't share his enthusiasm.

* * *

><p>You'd think I'd have grown used to being swarmed by now.<p>

Ladies and gentlmen, meet Alkaid. She's a twinblade, hothead, a regular tomboy, all wrapped up in an energetic avaar. She's also my best friend and a fellow beta-tester, just like Kirito. Welll, as close as one can come to having friends in this digital world. Its funny really. I'm pretty sure she's a hardcore tsundere; she usually doesn't go for outward expressions of emotions like this. Which leaves me wonder why she's just pinned me to the ground and why she's shouting at me and shaking my body like a ragdoll; as though the world's about to end or worse.

"Alkaid, what're you doing?!"

"There's no logout button!"

Oh. Well, I suppose that would qualify.

My eyes shoot across the screen, taking in the time, the date, my recently acquired equiptment. Everything's there. But something's missing. Something that _should_ be there.

That was when I saw it. Or rather, didn't see it. There, at the bottom right of my screen, mocking me. There was no log out button. No option to leave the game. A cold sweat breaks across my face, a snake of dread all but coiling inside of my stomach. No log out button.

None.

There was a silence as my brain struggled to proccess what was happening. In the end, only one word emerged.

_"Fuck."_

Then a pillar of blue light consumed the three of us.

It was that moment.

_That was when my world changed forever._

**A/N: Its been awhile, h****asn't it? I've been pestered for ages, to do this, haven't I? And yes, for those of you familiar with .Hack GU, Alkaid is in this story. I sincerely hope that isn't a problem? As a another note, if you're wondering about Naruto's armor, for now, its a variation of the Anbu attire, only orange. He'll get better equiptment-and plenty of girls!-as time drags on. I want to try and make this as real as possible, no leaping into relationships straight away. Naruto's essentialy forgotten what it means to love; and he'll be forced to relearn that emotion as he goes on...**

**...and ah, what a story this'll be!**

**Just in case ya'll are wondering about my intentions to update this story, rest assured I plan to stick to this and them all! I'm sure many of you have seen my most recent update for the Crimson Prince, after all. That's right, baby! I'm back, all healed up, and ready to update my fics to your heart's content. If there are any particular ones ya'll want update, feel free to give me a shout! So that now its been said...**

**So...in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...Review...Would You Kindly...? Should Naruto work with others, or be forced to slog all the way through on his own? And of course, enjoy the preview! Remember, if you're not at least familiar with Sword Art Online, you'll be hopelessly confused! The preview is in third person for now!**

**(Preview)**

_"You're that Undying guy, right?"_

_"That seems to be my moniker of late, yes." Naruto answered, frowning. Blue eyes roamed the cavernous building, taking in the battlements, the guild members arrayed against him. "Nice setup ya got here," he mused aloud, stroking his chin. "Shame I have ta wreck it, but then again, I can't stand pretentious little shits like you. I mean, Laughing Coffin? Seriously? Its bad enough that you're going around PK'ing innocents, but would ya at least come up with a better name?"_

_There was an awful silence._

_"Ah, boss? I think he was making fun of-_

_That awful scythe cut across his throat, ending him before he could finish._

_"I KNOW WHAT HE SAID, DIPSHIT!" _

_"Say, I've got a better idea." the guildmaster tittered suddenly, rising from his crooked throne. "How about we make a trade?"_

_Naruto stiffened, palming another knife. "And that would be?"_

_"Your life for that bitch you came here to rescue."_

_"Lemme thing about tha-no."_

_A kunai flew from his wrist, slamming into the forehead of the nearest individual. His body snapped into a thousand pixels, gone before he hit the ground._

_"THEN YOU CAN DIE FOR **ME!"**_

_Naruto tilted his head aside. _

_Just a fraction of an inch, but it was enough to send the scythe skill shooting harmlessly over his head in a streak of red. Slow. He scoffed. In that instant, his knife flashed out mercilessly, the high-level skill shooting up into the chest of the Laughing Coffin guildmaster with a dull thud. Combo. The system carried his next strike flawlessly forwards - his kunai ramming down into the man's exposed neck in a flurry of pixels, carving another smile there in his throat. His free hand shoved forward, sphere in hand. Rasengan. He didn't need to speak the technique to summon it, feeling his hit points dipping as the spiraling sphere took his health in exchange for smashing a gaping hole in the man's chest._

_The guildmaster-Kawahara-watched in disbelief as his health dropped down to zero. His body flickered, form trembling as the blond ripped his hand away. He tumbled forwards with a gasp, fumbling onto his hands and knees. A low laugh leapt from his masked face._

_"Why...you...murderer..._

_Naruto's only response was to shove another kunai into his neck._

_"I'd gladly kill a thousand like you if it means bringing peace back to this world."_

_Kawahara didn't answer that; he simply laughed and vanished into a thousand fractiles. Naruto turned his attention to the remaining members of Laughing Coffin, smiling. It was not a pleasant smile she thought; nor was the savage slaughter that followed. F__rom there he flowed like water-all but rippling around the furry of shouts and arrows that followed his sudden assault. His knives carved red pixels into their bodies, each hit a death-dealing blow to whomever they touched. The man holding her tried to draw back, but shuriken ended him._

_The rest died like pigs. Slowly._

_She wasn't sure when she'd closed her eyes against their screams only that she did. A tap on her shoulder roused her._

_"Yo."_

_Lisbeth started, opening her eyes to the now empty room. He'd killed them. An entire guild, all by himself..._

_Naruto stared down at the smith he'd just rescued, frowning __at her. Funny, how someone could remind him so much of Sakura. She was stubborn, selfish, and got under his skin like no other. Yet despite his refusal to help others, at the end of the day he'd still come back for her, walked into the trap anyway. Women..._

_His grin grew. "Come with me if you want to live."_

_Terminator? Her mind balked. Seriously?_

_"Why?" The pinkette stared back at him in disbelief, blinking as he severed the ropes binding her. "Why did you come back with me?" He looked at her for a long moment. Finally, he smiled._

_"Well, you still have to forge that sword for me." Her glare was telling, so he continued:_

_"Meh, guess I still have a conscience after all."_

_Lisbeth frowned. Slowly, gingerly, she accepted his hand._

_"You're still an ass."_

_Naruto cackled. __"So true!"_

**R&R! =D**


	2. This is War

**A/N: Alright! After being pestered for so long I've finally dug my claws into this idea, into Sword Art Online. Now y'see, I didn't know where or when to place it at first, didn't want to alter too much. But then it hit me. What does it have no short of? Ideas! Almost anything can happen in this game ya know? Now, screwing around with canon is one thing. But messing with it as a whole...**

**...now that's a whole new can of worms. Off we go! This is also my first attempt to write a first person story. There will, of course, be third-person increments as well, but Naruto's perspective will mostly be told in the first for this story after this chapter, unless I get a massive outpouring saying it should be otherwise. So...**

**...please be nice! On another note, there might be a few .Hack characters in this! And remember, I own nothing! I've also made an amusing change, regarding Kirito...**

_"J_ust so you know; I'm persistent and I never give up_...!"_

_~?_

**This is War**

_What happened next would define my initial experience with this world-turned-prison._

As my mind raced, the light surrounding me-the three of us-pulsed stronger, blocking my vision. Instinctively I burned chakra to my eyes, trying to activate the Rinnegan and protected myself-only to realize that these weren't the eyes of my shinobi but, but an Uzumaki avatar designed to look like it. All I could do was squint and curse my own powerlessness.

The blue light faded, and the environment returned but was no longer the evening field in which we'd been standing. I was greeted by wide paving stones, trees lining the street and a cleany elegant medieavel town. In the far distance straight ahead, a massive palace gleamed darkly.

I recognized it almost instantly as the central swaure of the Town of Beginnings, i.e, the game's starting point. I turned to face Alkaid and Kirito next to me, their mouths agape. I didn't blame them. We stared out at a sea of humanity pressed in around us, each sharing the same expression.

It was a teeing mass of beautiful men and women, a clash of bristling equiptment and hair in every color of the rainbow. These were all fellow SAO players, just like me. There had to be several thousand people here-a total tally would later show ten thousand-all looking just as lost, lonely, and confused as the rest of us. Every single player had been forcibly teleported to this square.

For a few seconds there was a tense silence as everyone took in their surroundings. Mutters and murmurs broke out everywhere, steadily rising in volume. Shards of conversation could be made out in the din.

"What the hell?"

"What's going on?!"

"Can we log out now?"

"I don't like this," Alkaid muttered beside me, sounding cross. "I don't like this...at all." I was vaguely aware of her hand grasping at mine, a subconcsious gesture likely unregistered by her mind. Strange, how even in times of crisis we humans seek the comfort of others. Without thinking, I gave her hand a quick squeeze. That was all it took to snap the tomboy out of her stupor; with a tiny squeak she ripped her hand from mine, a warm feeling lingering in my fingertips even after she released my fingers. You really had to admire the dedication to the game.

The murmurring took on a distinct tone of anger and frustration as the seconds ticked by, raised voices demanding the GM's come out to explain themselves. And they did.

Abruptly, someone screamed, cutting through the noise.

"Look!"

The three of us instinctively raised our eyes, which were met with an unnatural sight.

The bottom of the second floor hanging a hundred yards or so above us was bathed in a red checkerboard pattern. Looking closer, I realized said pattern was comprised of two pieces of english text. I could make out a WARNING, and right besides it, SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT in the scarlet font.

Beside me, I watched as the tension began to bleed from Alkaid, her pensive expression slowly relaxing into a displeased from. Kirito mirrored her visage, the anxiety draining from his eyes like an unclogged pipe. The ease with which they accepted this change. The roar in the square died down as the crowd strained their collective ears, each grasping for the tiniest of sounds. You could hear a pin drop. In hindsight I really should've expected something dramatic at that moment. It was his style, after all. They thought all their troubles were over. They had no idea they was only just beginning.

Because that's when _he_ showed up.

The center of the crimson pattern that sheathed the entire sky above suddenly sagged in the middle, pooling like an enormous drop of blood. The viscous drop slowly extended downwards, but rather than breaking off and falling, it abruptly changed shape in midair.

What emerged from that shape was the faceless form of a giant person at least sixty feet tall, clad in a robe with a crimson hood. Equally large, and white gloves peeked out of the pendulous sleeves, presenting a stark separation between robe and glove with no flesh to be seen in between. Then, from above the crowd, a man's calm, deep voice, cut through the din.

_"Welcome to my world, dear players."_

Akihiko Kayaba.

The man behind it all.

* * *

><p>I thought I'd seen it all in the last two thousand years. The good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful.<p>

I've seen humanity at its worst; I know full well the power of raw panic. The Inquisition. Two World Wars. Nuclear fire.

That was nothing compared to this. A dust mote in the eye of what we'd just been told. I could've sworn Akihiko was smiling somewhere, as he watched the horror rippled across the thousands of faces at his feet. Kirito and Alkaid wore confused half-smiles on their faces, but my face felt like it was made of glass. The tiniest expression, the slightest reaction, and everything would shatter. I fought to school my face into a mask, holding-biting!-back any trace of emotion that would give away the lone thought blaring in my brain:

_I am so fucked._

I-that is, my mind-was trapped. Locked inside of a game. All my powers, all my abilities were still there, just...out of reach. Gone. Useless. The Nervegear both intercepted and prevented me from sending any signals to my brain, thus keeping my immortal body from simply ripping the helmet off my head and going about my daily life as usal. I'd survived an atomic blast. I very much doubted that a shock to my brain was going to kill me; I'd just regenerate all over again. But even as I thought this, as though he were reading my mind, the insufferable bastard surprised me yet again. He'd played me.

I didn't know how, but he'd played me. And then the bloody bastard did it again!

_"I'm sure some of you may have noticed the Shinobi class system, and that is unavailable to many of you. Indeed, this is a class that was only open to the first thousand beta-testers. You may think that this gives them an unfair advantage of you, the common player. Nothing could be further from the truth. Why, nothing could be further from the truth. It matters not what class you are, only the skill of the player!_

_"Indeed, I have become aware that one of you suffers from a rather...unique circumstance. A rare malady, unseen, until this very moment. One of you is," a_nd here a subtle note of amusement seemed to creep into his voice as he raised those undulating, limbless arms,_ "Undying. That is to say he/she cannot be killed, even should their NerveGear scrambled their brain. They are, simply put, immortal."_

A ripple of confusion spread through the square.

"Huh?"

"What is he talking about?"

"Immortal?"

I froze. No...

_"So I say this to you, the Undying." _Once more those eerie, limbless arms spread wide._ "You may "die" as many times as you please in my game. However, whenever you perish and are reborn, you will pay a price. Ten souls will be removed from this game and the world for each "rebirth" you endure. This number will double with each consecutive death. And should you attempt to escape from this painstakingly crafted world, then the consequences will be steeper still..._

A pause.

A heavy, palpable silence filled the air, ten thousand breaths held in apprehension. The next words came with a slow, awful finality.

_...**every player in the game will be permanently retired from both Aincrad and the real world."**_

A shrill scream rang out from somewhere in the crowd. But the majority of players were stock-still, either unable or refusing to believe, their faces still displaying abstenminded smiles. I felt my teeth grind together with an audible gnashing sound.

I stared up at Kayaba for a long moment, my face still a blank mask. Somewhere in the back of my brain, a muscle jumped. I felt an instant urge to burst into a high-pitched laughter bubbling up from my gut, and with all my might, I strangled the impulse. My eyes instinctively sought outa thin bar at the left corner of my vision, glowing blue. 500/500. The numbers popped up next to it.

My hit points. My remaining life.

If I hit zero, I wouldn't actually die-but ten others would pay the price. And if I made an escape-which I was fairly certain I could-then Akihiko would retaliate by terminating the thousands of players in the game. Their brains would be fried by the microwaves of the Nervegear, and kill them on the spot, according to the creator himself. Just who the hell was he? Clearly I'd been right to suspect him but this, _this_ went far beyond even my initial terror of finding myself trapped in the game. If I screwed up, others would pay for it. Their lives were being held hostage to keep me in this game. And away from him.

My only hope lay in conquering this "castle" as he'd put it, and defeating the final boss. Then, and only then, would I be able to wring his scrawny neck without stepping over a mountain of corpses.

The red robe once again preempted the thoughts of all present, sweeping its white glove and continuing in a voice devoid of all emotion. I thought I detected a vague note of satisfaction from within that hood, probably my imagination, but my whiskered face turned down into a scowl nonetheless at those next words.

_"Finally, let me prove to you that this world is now your one and only reality. I've prepared a gift for all of you. You may find it in your item storage."_

Without thinking, I made the two-fingered downward swipe to pull open the menu. Beside me, Kirito and Alkaid made a similair motion, even as the square filled with electronic chiming sounds. When I hit the inventory tab at the top of the screen I noticed something new at the top of the list. HAND MIRROR. It read. Silently seething, I tapped the icon and selected MATERIALIZE from the list of options. With a sparkling sound effect as you'd hear in most games, a small square mirror popped into being in my palm.

My face stared back at me, my eyes hard with silent fury. Frowning, I turned toward Alkaid. She shrugged mutely. Then...

_Tching!_

Once more a brilliant white light enveloped me and those nearby, spreading across the square like wildfire. For a heartbeat my vision went black, only to return seconds later, showing me the same sights.

Except...

"Ha?!"

I blinked. Really, that was all I could do.

I was looking at Alkaid. She, was relatively unchanged. The only difference to my eyes was that her once-crimson hair was now a light shade of brown. She still had that strange little curl in her ponytail. Her dark orbs blinking back at me in open confusion as they swept up and down my body, her small face regarding mine in deep disbelief. Right, she was probably wondering why I hadn't changed. I looked much same as I'd always had; I hadn't been lying when I told Kirito that this was my face. My eyes. My voice.

"Cute." Not the most eloquent word, but it was the first one to emerge from my mouth.

Alkaid turned as scarlet as her hair had once been.

She swatted me on the arm. "Q-Quiet, idiot!" Great Scott! Even her voice was the same!

_"You're_ Alkaid?"

_"You're_ Naruto?!"

"W-What the hell is this?" a new, softer voice rasped.

Kirito on the other hand, looked entirely different.

Black hair in an inoffensive style. Gentle eyes set beneath long bangs. A soft, rounded face that looked like it belonged on a girl than an actual boy-wait a minute?! Against my better judgement, my eyes drifted down a centimeter or so, recognizing something that _certainly_ didn't belong on a boy, no matter how effeminate he might be. My jaw clicked open with a silent click. The girl-for this was clearly a girl-stared back at me for what felt like an eternity. Then her arms flew to her chest. I shook my head in slow disbelief.

"Shenanigans." I muttered to myself. "I'm calling shenanigans."

Alkaid was far less subtle in her disbelief.

_"You're a girl?!"_

"Kirito" colored to the roots of her hair.

"Stop staring!"

_"This concludes the tutorial phase of Sword Art Online."_ Akihiko's voice boomed, commanding our attention once more. _"I wish you the best of luck in conquering this castle, dear players."_ There was no grand motion or movement to signal his dissapearance; he simply faded from view, right before my very eyes, taking the wall of messages with him as he dissapeared.

Suddenly, my anger, held back for so long, came boiling forth. How dare he? How _DARE_ he?! I was suddenly and intrisnically furious with the man known as Akihiko Kayabe, not simply for deceiving me, or that I'd been fool enough to fall into his trap; but because he'd done it. This man-he was no better than Madara. Than Kaguya. Worse, he wasn't doing it out of some misguided notion/dellusion to save the world from itself like Obito had. This monster-this beast-was perpetuating this scheme for one reason, and one reason only.

He'd done it because he could.

"AKIHIKO!"

My shout split the evening air with a deafening a crack of thunder, causing everyone in the square to jump. Alkaid and Kirito looked at me like they'd seen a ghost. Maybe they had. The creator simply laughed at me, a fading, lilting sound that vanished long before the rest of him caught up with it. I wanted to reach out across space and strangle that little shit! Perhaps he wasn't even Akihiko at alll; maybe this madman was someone who'd killed the real Kayaba and asumed his identity. Who knew? I'd dealt with enough insanity in life to leave my options open. After all, I'd acquired immortality one way; who was to say that someone from my past, or worst, someone I'd never met, hadn't found a different way to cheat death?

Didn't matter really. Whomever he was, I swore that day that I would beat this game, track him down, and throttle the life out of him. There was no greater goal for me in that moment. And in that moment, my cry of childish, churlish rage set off a chain reaction. My shout seemed to ripple outward in an invisible wave, snapping my fellow hostages from their silent stupors all at once. Realization dawned in their eyes. Horror. Finally, at long last, the throng of players surrounding me exhibited the proper reaction.

They panicked.

The square exploded into noise, convulsing with the sound of ten thousand different voices at once.

"This can't be happening!"

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Screw this! Let me out! I want out of here!"

"I was supposed to meet somebody tonight! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"

"LET ME LEAVE!"

Screams. Rage. Shrieks. Insults. Pleading. And roars.

In the span of several minutes, we'd gone from players to prisoners. We held our heads, sunk to our knees, shook our fists, in the air, grabbed others and turned on one another. It was chaos incarnate, a raw, primal fear I hadn't seen since the Dark Ages. In that moment they were little more than beasts, driven made with terror. Part of me pitied them. The rest felt only disgust; disgust at myself for being baited into this trap, to allow myself to be _manipulated_ by a mad genius, who, was clearly more than he seemed. _He _was the one I'd been searching for; someone who'd lived into this age. But if so, who was he? What did he hope to gain by trapping me here?

Oddly enough, the more the screaming continued, the clearer my thoughts became.

This was my reality now. Like it or not. Everything that bastard'd said was true. The real world-my body, and all the godlike power within it-were lost to me. I had only my mind-my reflexes-and my own innate skills to rely upon. I might not be a master of online gaming, but I knew enough about reality to know what would come next. If this was anything like the Dark Ages of ye olden times, this were going to go bad. Fast. Once the panic abated, resources were going to vanish. There would be a sramble to find safety and shelter, to get the best weapons. Then came the shortage. There would be battles over resources. Death.

Though a small part of me might wish it were so, I couldn't save these people from themselves. Any attempt to do so would just drag me down into the muck with them. No, I needed to leave. I'd save them and myself by clearing this crazy castle and executing the one responsible for building it. Numbers would only slow me down.

With that thought, I took a slow, measured breath, and started to walk away. It was painfully easy; everyone was so caught in the chaos and insanity of Akihiko's revelation that they weren't thinking straight. I was the only one with a clear head on my shoulders. Clouded by rage, perhaps, but certainly clearer than most.

I made it all of seven steps before someone grabbed my hand. My body jerked, staggering a slight step.

"Where are you going?" someone asked. I didn't need to turn to know who it was.

Alkaid.

An instant of hesitation. A split second decision. It changed everything.

"Come with me." I saw Kirito out of the corner of my eye, and beckoned her over as well. "Both of you."

I grabbed their arms, their figures still remarkably small even after the shift to our actual body types, and quickly led them through the wailing, hysterical mob. We must have been placed near the outside of the group, as it took little time to escape the crowd. I marched down the streets radiating out from the square and stepped behind a stationary carriage. In that instant, Alkaid miracuously recovered. Whatever speech I'd planned she ran right up and over it, in typical Alkaid fashion.

"Hey," She jerked at my arm, dragging her feet. "Hey! What're you doing?!"

"I'm getting you out of here." I said. "I'll lead you to the gates and give you some advice on which monsters to fight and which one to avoid; after that, we'll all go our separate ways." It was true; I owned them at least that much. I wasn't expecting her to rip her hand out of my grasp and give me a hard shove into the nearby wall. I barely felt it thanks to the gracious HP protections afforded by the town but now I was suddenly aware that _she_ was the one holding my arm, her fingers clenched white-knuckled around my wrist in a desperate grip.

her elbow pressing into my gut as she

"Listen up." she said, her lower lip quivering tremulously; she was putting on a brave front, but inside, I knew she was scared out of her mind. "I'm leaving this city right now and heading for the next village. Come with me."

"...ha?"

My jaw clicked open for the second time that day. That wasn't my plan. Not my plan at all! I'd planned to give them some advice and dissappear on my own! Not group up with someone!

"I'm serious!"

She pushed on, her voice low as Kirito and I stared at her in disbelief.

"If what that asshat said is true, then we have to get stronger if we plan to survive, right?" At my slow nod, she hurried on. "Basically, its a battle over resources. This area is going to be tapped out in no time once the rest of the players wise up. It'll be bled dry. You'll be forced to wander around, endlessly waiting for mobs to respawn. We need to take this opportunity to set up base in the next town. I've gotten further than either of you have on this floor; because, unlike you, I didn't just blaze through it. I know the way, and which spots are dangerous. With the three of us in a party, we can get there safely, even at level one. We cand find all the other beta's too; I'm not sure about Haseo, but if its you two, I'm sure they'd be willing to work with us!" Her hand tightened on my wrist, her eyes cutting to Kirito as well. "C'mon, come with me!"

Even by my standards it was a marathon speech, but despite my reservations. I listened to every word. I even found myself considering an answer at the finish. Wondering. Perhaps I didn't have to shoulder this ghastly burden alone...?

"Alright." Beneath those bright brown orbs, I conceded the fight, making a downward swipe with my hand. "Here, I'll form a party with you right now." A subtle ding confirmed the action, and one flick of the fingers

"Yosh! I knew you wouldn't let me down!" Alkaid hooted and pumped her free hand at the air, grinnning from ear to ear. To this day, I wasn't quite sure what made me say yes to that pushy girl. Even in those early days, Alkaid had a way of sucking you-even the most staunchest person-into her own pace like a whirpool. No matter how hard you fought the pull the currents made sure you were drawn in anyway, dragged under. Few, if any could resist her.

But some could.

"Kirito?"

A few seconds later, and the blackette grimaced slightly. She took one step back. Then another. She held her breath and bit a bit at her lip. The intention behind her pensive stare was plain as day. This skittish, reclusive girl who'd been masquerading as a boy couldn't bring herself to say yes. They would be forming a party the three of them-all working together towards a single goal. And she just couldn't agree to that.

"I...can't."

Alkaid was almost certain it was her imagination, but in that instant, she thought she saw Naruto's eyes flicker purple. Part of her wilted at the girl's predicament.

She couldn't handle that unbearable pressure of leaving her life in another's hands. It was impossible for her.

"Whaddya mean you can't?!" Alkaid exclaimed!

"I don't work in groups." she answered quietly.

"You played with me and Naruto all the time!"

"But not in a group!" Panic edged her tone. "I can't! I won't!"

Ah. I'd forgotten his/her loathing of parties. She wouldn't join us, no matter how much we might beg and plead. Tying her up and dragging her along for the ride was another option; one I was loathe to use. She was stubborn this one; any attempt to force her into our way of thinking would only distance her from us that much further.

For a few seconds, I stayed silent, grappling with a conflict the likes of which I'd never faced before. And then I spoke the simple words that I would grow to regret over the following two years.

...Okay." I nodded, taking a step back. Wounded, Alkaid moved with me. In a hoarse voice, I continued, "We'll part ways here, then. Shoot us a message if anything comes up."

She looked away, eyes shimmering. I should've reached out to her. Should've dragged her with us. But I didn't. Instead, I was a coward. I just stood there, listening, as she spoke.

...yeah."

As I averted my eyes and tried to turn away, Kirito cried out.

"Um, hey!"

"..."

Her glance said she wanted to ask something, but her cheekbones only twitched, and no words came out. Stubbron to the last, it seemed. We waved and turned northwest, the general direction of the village we sought to go next. After five steps, I heard her voice call out behind us again.

"Good luck!"

"You too."

And having turnedmy back one one of the very first friends I'd ever made in this world, I started walking forward. But I wasn't alone. Alkaid matched my stride leg for leg. Thankfully, she remained mute. After a few minutes of travelling down the twisted back alleys of the city, I turned around to look. There was no one there but Alkaid, of course. She flashed me a nervous smile.

"Ready?"

"Not really, no." I deadpanned down at her. "Why do you always drag me into these things?"

The look she gave me could've melted glass. "Because if I didn't, you'd just lay around doing nothing."

Ouch. She'd gotten me there.

"True."

Gritting my teeth and swallowing the strange sensation that seemed to block my windpipe, I picked up my heels and ran like the wind. First the northwest gate of the Town of Beginnings, then a vast field and a deep forest, and finally, a little village. We raced onward toward what lay beyond...

...headlong into a battle for survival without end.

* * *

><p><em>(One month later...)<em>

Stepping into the unknown is frightening.

Terrifying, really.

When faced with the fear of imminent, it was glaringly apparent that there would be casualties. Some from suicide. Others from players killing players. Still others perished simply out of inexperience; beta testers would try and trust to what they'd experienced in the first version of the game only to find that, like life itself, it had changed. This wasn't just a game anymore. This was life and death. Some trapped themselves in impossible situations-conflicts that could've been easily resolved if you had someone to back you up. You froze, forgetting to run, to use your items. Even the most experienced player was prone to this.

It was chaos.

Two thousand died in those first thirty days. I can proudly say I didn't lose a single "life" as it were, during that time. Still, I felt responsible for those who'd died. And in a way, I was. Rumours of a guild called Laughing Coffin abounded. Apparently they'd been born from the rumor of the Undying-me, ugh!-and, in a perfect example of human depravity decided to killl as many players as possible to find out who it was. The twisted thing about it all was that they honestly believed they weren't doing anything wrong. That they were justified in their little crusade to weed out "he who could not die", as they so blatantly put it.

We'll get back to them later.

In that month, Alkaid and I leveled up relentlessly; going after the best weapons, arms, and armor. And we were damned good at it. It was all we seemed to do. Leaving Kirito behind should have opened a rift between us; oddly enough, it had the opposite effect. Instead of falling apart, we became even closer. I was intent on beating the game, determined to find a way out of this game and exact vengeance on Akihiko. I was blind to everything else for the longest time...including the feelings of everyone around me.

I was furious; enraged that even we, with all our skill, couldn't seem to find the first boss lair. I shouldn't have been so hard on myself; it wasn't perfect. No one was. Then it happened.

Someone found it first.

Soon after that, I found myself thrust into the role of "Hero" as it were...

* * *

><p>"KIRITO-CHAN!"<p>

"Oomph!"

The blackette grunted in surprise, then pain as a streak of black and red slammed into her from behind, nearly knocking her off the bench. In the next instant she found herself wrapped up by a pair of strong arms and all but hoisted from her feet as she was engulfed in a crushing bear hug. It took her all of three seconds to recognize the perpetrator responsible for this heinous crime-as well as recognize the bright bob of auburn hair bouncing in the corner of her peripheals. With the last of her breath, she managed to squeak out a greeting of her own. It sounded more like a grunt.

"Good to see you too_...Alkaid!"_

Spinning her once more, the Twinblade released the solo player, allowing Kirito to draw in a much-needed breath.

"I'm so glad you've alive!"

Since she'd seen her last, the brunette had turned her hair crimson again, and elected to make it longer. Hair was one of the few things you could still customize in SAO besides armor and it seemed that her fellow beta tester had taken advantage of both gratuitously. She stood resplendent in light bronze armor scattered piecemeal across her body, the crimson vambraces nearly sheathing the entirety of her arms. Still the same bright and pushy girl as ever, it seemed.

"You could've just checked my status from the menu...

Alkaid cocked her head aside, like a dog hearing a new sound. "Ehehehe...must've forgot."

"What're you doing here?"

"Well, we came for the meeting...but we missed most if it." she said. "I mean, we were supposed to attend, but something came up."

Kirito blinked.

"Where's Naruto...?"

Alkaid colored, eyes shifting evasively.

"He's...kinda busy."

"Busy?"

Her eyes strayed to the indicator hovering just over Alkaid's head. She was in a party. That much was to be expected. With Naruto and...who the hell was Asuna? She vaguely recalled seeing someone similair while that Diavel guy was giving his speech, but she'd hesitated to approach her. Whomever she was, she was nowhere to be seen. What was going on here?"

_"Alkaid."_

The redhead cringed. "Alright, alright!"

"Well, we _may _have had a little fight...

* * *

><p>"You call this a blade?!"<p>

Lisbeth felt her face brighten to match the color of her hair as she stared up at her latest customer. The blond was leaning over the counter, his dark blue eyes flashing angrily. Under any other circumstance, she might have been just a little frightened by such apocalyptic anger, but she knew this particular customer well enough to know he wouldn't dare lay a hand on her-or her wares-for that matter. Still, Liz wasn't the sort to let an insult like that slide. In his hands he cradled her latest work...which was flawed, to say the least. It was meant to be an amber-colored blade, but she'd messed up the refinement, rendering it little more than scrap.

Needless to say, Naruto was not pleased.

"It's not my fault!" A muscle jumping in her jaw, she leaned forward at him, her head pushing against his in stubborn defiance. "I'm only level ten! I'm still new at this!"

"Inexperiences doesn't beget faulty workmanship!"

"No, but it does beget stupidity!" she sniped.

Naruto blinked, taken aback. Lisbeth liked to thing she'd surprised him for once. But that petulant expression returned almost immediately. And so the war of words commenced.

"Baka!"

"Noisy!"

"Stubborn!"

"Picky!"

"I am not picky!" he drew back as though he'd been stung. "You take that back!"

"I will if you buy something!" Exasperated, she gestured to the wall, indicating the few pieces she still had. He looked at them a moment and sniffed, thumbing his nose at her.

"Bah! Those aren't worth five col!"

"HEY!"

She'd met Naruto through Alkaid a few weeks ago; and for the life of her, she didn't know what the redhead saw in him. Sure, he was handsome enough in a boyish, rugged way, and he _did _look good in that navy blue plate armor...but his attitude ruined everything! She wondered who this Asuna girl was, this hooded character quietly trailing after him. She didn't seem to be the talkative type.

He hardly ever bought anything, and he was always-constantly!-complaining about the quality of her work. But when he _did _drop col on her wares, he always spent well. And he was her only client at the moment. That was the only thing preventing her from tossing him out on his ass. But today he was testhing her patiences-pushing the boundaries of what he knew to be acceptable. As if he were just _trying_ to rile her up. Lisbeth had all but shouted herself hoarse already.

"Maybe I'd _buy_ something if you made me a better sword!" Naruto flung the scrap down onto the counter with a growl. Something glimmered in those eyes, just then. Respect? Admiration? No, that didn't make sense; why would he bicker with her like this if he respected her? No, her mind was playing tricks on her. That was all it was. Oddly enough, that thought broke down the dam that held her anger back.

"Hmmph! That's it! Out!"

"What?!"

"We're closed for the day!" the pinkette snapped, physically fighting the urge to sock him in the face. "You heard me! Out!" Before he could protest she gave him a hard shove, pushing him out towards the door with a prodigous amount of strength-one of the few stats she'd invested in beyond smithing-thrusting him away from the counter. He dug his feet into the floor, resisting, to no avail. Asuna followed after without so much as a word, not needing to be pushed to realize that she wasn't welcome.

"But I-

"OUT!

Another shoved catapaulted him out of the shop and onto his ass. He scrambled up almost immediately, shooting her a glower.

"You can't do this to me!"

Lisbeth stuck out her tongue; then she slammed the door in his face.

"I just did!"

Folding her arms in a huff, Lisbeth spun away and slammed the door in his face, apron twirling. He shouted somethng at her back, but she ignored him, instead storming behind the counter, fighting to push the heated flush out of her cheeks. Why did he always get under her skin? It was almost as if-

The door swung open again. She spun around, furious all over again.

"I already told you, we're closed_-urk?!"_

She had just enough time to see the hood before it swept down over her head. A paralysis poison hit her in the next instant, her body going rigid. She didn't see the two men who kidnapped her, didn't even know their names. All she saw was blackness. One moment she was in her shop, the next she felt the faintest sensation of being lifted. Whomever carried her was fas- moving at a breakneck run that would've left her disoriented and dizzy, even without the hood.

* * *

><p>I watched them take her from a nearby rooftop, waiting. Regretting. Perhaps I'd gone a bit overboard today. I felt bad, involving Lisbeth in my plans, using her as bait, and resolved to apologize later. Dropping down, I released my hold on the tiles and landed in a pointed crouch, pausing just long enough to regard my companion.<p>

"Would you mind waiting here?" I asked politely of her. "I've got some business to attend to."

The hooded girl stared at me for a long moment.

...you're being foolish."

Damn straight I was.

Her name was Asuna. I'd met her in the streets only a few minutes, seen the empty, hollowe pit there in her eyes. Then...I did something incredibly foolish. In a rare lapse of judgement, I went and walked right up to the poor girl and, even though I couldn't see her face, I grabbed her.

Yes, I, Uzumaki Naruto, gave her a great big hug, promising her that everything would be alright. Of course, Alkaid didn't take very kindly to that. Just a hug, I said. My ass, she said! For the first time, since finding ourselves trapped in this world, we fought. Argued. In the end she'd run off to kami knew where somewhere in town. Alkaid was _hiding_ from me, most likely. I'd left her to cool off, choosing to seek her out once she wouldn't try to chop my balls off for talking to another girl

She'd been followng me ever since.

And as my luck would have it, the members of Laughing Coffin started trailing me shortly thereafter. Fuck you Murphy. Seriously. Fuck. You.

"Hell, I've always been reckless."

I started walking. Like a lost little puppy, she followed me.

"What are you doing?"

I thought I saw those eyes flash beneath the hood. "Making sure you don't get yourself killed." For a moment, I was tempted to ask what she looked like under that hood. I held my tongue.

I huffed. "It's not my concern if you get hurt.

"Not my concern." she mimicked me.

"Stop that." I hissed, glaring at her.

"Stop that."

_"Stop. That."_

With murder in my eyes, I took off in a run after Laughing Coffin.

* * *

><p>The sack was wrenched away from Lisbeth's face in a violent motion, exposing her worst fears. Oh no. No no no no. She knew this place. Knew those insignia, plastered everywhere. Laughing Coffin. She'd been taken by Laughing Coffin. This was the last place she wanted to be. Her heart hammered in her breast, her breath coming in weak gasps as she fought not to hyperventilate. She was laid prostrated before a throne of bleak looking brambles, atop which a nasty-looking individual sat, absently toying with a sigh.<p>

She must've been poisoned with sleep since they'd carried her; because she came back to herself just in time to hear the tail end of a bleak conversation wrapping itself up.

...do with her?"

"If he doesn't show, we'll just kill her." someone answered. "Sh! He's coming! Told you we'd been followed!"

"Silence." the man-guildmaster?-atop the throne said; his voice sounding like a slow-moving avalanche. Lisbeth strained her ears, searching for any semblance of sound. Finally-finally-she heard something. It emerged out of the black in a light tap-tap-tap, the unmistakeable sound slowly drawing closer and closer with each passing second.

_Footsteps._

A dark figure resolved itself amidst the candles. Then another.

"That's close enough." the guildmaster rumbled. The shadows stopped.

"You're that Undying guy, right? Looks like we finally found you.

Lisbeth jerked upright with a start, her bright eyes falling on the stranger-not a stranger!-who'd just strode into the guild. If a den of thieves and murderers could even be called such. Blond hair flashed in the dimly lit room, orbs like a pair of ruby sapphires glittering in the black. There was someone behind him; the hooded girl from before. She didn't speak. _That_ task was left to him.

"That seems to be my moniker of late, yes." Naruto answered, frowning. Blue eyes roamed the cavernous building, taking in the battlements, the guild members arrayed against him. "Nice setup ya got here," he mused aloud, stroking his chin. "Shame I have ta wreck it, but then again, I can't stand pretentious little shits like you. I mean, Laughing Coffin? Seriously? Its bad enough that you're going around PK'ing innocents to find me, but would ya at least come up with a better name?"

There was an awful silence.

"Ah, boss?" One of the lackey's spoke up. "I think he was making fun of-

That awful scythe cut across his throat, ending him before he could finish. The sudden change in personality was...frightening. Disturbing.

"I KNOW WHAT HE SAID, DIPSHIT!"

"Say, I've got a better idea." the guildmaster purred suddenly, rising from his crooked throne. "How about we make a trade?"

Naruto stiffened, palming another knife. "And that would be?"

"Your life for that bitch you came here to rescue."

"Lemme thing about tha-no."

A kunai flew from his wrist, slamming into the forehead of the nearest individual. His body snapped into a thousand pixels, gone before he hit the ground.

"THEN YOU CAN DIE FOR **ME!"**

Naruto tilted his head aside.

Just a fraction of an inch, but it was enough to send the scythe skill shooting harmlessly over his head in a streak of red. Slow. He scoffed. In that instant, his knife flashed out mercilessly, the high-level skill shooting up into the chest of the Laughing Coffin guildmaster with a dull thud. Combo. The system carried his next strike flawlessly forwards - his kunai ramming down into the man's exposed neck in a flurry of pixels, carving another smile there in his throat. His free hand shoved forward, sphere in hand. Rasengan. He didn't need to speak the technique to summon it, feeling his hit points dipping as the spiraling sphere took his health in exchange for smashing a gaping hole in the man's chest.

The guildmaster-PoH-watched in disbelief as his health dropped down to zero. His body flickered, form trembling as the blond ripped his hand away. He tumbled forwards with a gasp, fumbling onto his hands and knees. A low laugh leapt from his masked face.

"Why...you...murderer...

Naruto's only response was to shove another kunai into his neck, slamming him back down to the ground.

"I'd gladly kill a thousand like you if it means bringing peace back to this world."

PoH didn't answer that; he simply laughed and vanished into a thousand fractiles. Naruto turned his attention to the remaining members of Laughing Coffin, smiling. It was not a pleasant smile she thought; nor was the savage slaughter that followed. From there he flowed like water-all but rippling around the furry of shouts and arrows that followed his sudden assault. His knives carved red pixels into their bodies, each hit a death-dealing blow to whomever they touched. The man holding her tried to draw back, but a hail shuriken ended him.

"Asuna!" he barked! "Now!"

The girl who had, until this very moment, stood stoically by, flung off her cloak.

She had a small oval face framed by long chestnut hair on either side and hazel-colored eyes that flashed brightly in the dark cavern, hot with anger and fury. Under her petite, slender nose was a set of bright pink lips. Her gracefully body was clad in slim armor, and a rapier dangled in a leather scabbard at her waist. Then she moved. And the slaughter began.

Asuna stuck like lightning, her rapier striking down anyone within reach.

The rest died swiftly under hand. Others, slowly under Naruto's arm.

She wasn't sure when she'd closed her eyes against their screams only that she did. A tap on her shoulder roused her.

"Yo."

Lisbeth started, opening her eyes to the now empty room. He'd killed them. An entire guild, almost all by himself...

Naruto stared down at the smith he'd just rescued, frowning at her. Funny, how someone could remind him so much of Sakura. She was stubborn, selfish, and got under his skin like no other. Yet despite his refusal to help others, at the end of the day he'd still come back for her, walked into the trap anyway. Women...

His grin grew. "Come with me if you want to live."

_Terminator?_ Her mind balked. _Seriously?_

"Why?" The pinkette stared back at him in disbelief, blinking as he severed the ropes binding her. "Why did you come back with me?" He looked at her for a long moment. Finally, he smiled.

"Well, you still have to forge that sword for me." Her glare was telling, so he continued:

"Meh, guess I still have a conscience after all."

Lisbeth frowned. Slowly, gingerly, she accepted his hand.

"You're still an ass."

Naruto cackled. "So true!"

**A/N: Its been awhile, h****asn't it? I've been pestered for ages, to do this, haven't I? And yes, for those of you familiar with .Hack GU, Alkaid is in this story. I sincerely hope that isn't a problem? As a another note, if you're wondering about Naruto's armor, for now, its a variation of the Anbu attire, only orange. He'll get better equiptment-and plenty of girls!-as time drags on. I want to try and make this as real as possible, no leaping into relationships straight away. Naruto's essentialy forgotten what it means to love; and he'll be forced to relearn that emotion as he goes on...**

**...and ah, what a story this'll be!**

**Just in case ya'll are wondering about my intentions to update this story, rest assured I plan to stick to this and them all! I'm sure many of you have seen my most recent update for the Crimson Prince, after all. That's right, baby! I'm back, all healed up, and ready to update my fics to your heart's content. If there are any particular ones ya'll want update, feel free to give me a shout! So that now its been said...**

**So...in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...Review...Would You Kindly...? Should Naruto work with others, or be forced to slog all the way through on his own? And of course, enjoy the preview! Remember, if you're not at least familiar with Sword Art Online, you'll be hopelessly confused! The preview is in third person for now!**

**(Preview)**

_Naruto quietly tapped the edge of his blade against a boot. Flicking his fingers, he palmed one blade to his hand, then another. Slowly-lazily-he opened his mouth and placed a third within, his teeth biting down against the leather hilt, holding it cross his body in a horizontal weave. His own Unique skill for the game. Santoryu. That is, three sword technique. Blue eyes swept across the field, targeting a nearby monster. Hollow eyes of bone turned to regard him._

_"See," he began slowly, words muffled by the hilt, "Don't do everything yourself. Just line up the motion, let the system take over and...KAPOW!"_

_His katana flashed a violent shade of violet, his body flying into the skill as he pounded down the unlucky dead. Three strikes. Vertical square. Then Horizontal. As he reamed into the beast it tried to strike down; only to find itself bissected by the trio of blads raining down on it. That was all it took-then the monster shattered into angry red pixels. Sheathing his blade, he turned to his charge. Being part of-leading-a guild was proving to be an...interesting experience._

_"Ready?"_

_She gulped, regarding another of the eerie creatures in the maze. "I-I don't know. Are you sure this is a good idea?"_

_"Of course it is! __C'mon, get in there!" A swat on her back sent her stumbling forward._

_"Alright-eep!"_

_One hit from the monster slashed her HP in half and knocked her flat on her back. Sighing, the Undying strode forward and dispatched it with a swift swing of his blade. Naruto cringed as he tossed her a healing crystal, restoring her hit points once more._

_"Well, that could've gone better._

_"Sumimasen..._

_The blond laughed quietly; it was a quiet croak of a sound. _

_"Sachi...what am I going to do with you?"_

**R&R! =D**


	3. Leader

**A/N: Alright! After being pestered for so long I've finally dug my claws into this idea, into Sword Art Online. Now y'see, I didn't know where or when to place it at first, didn't want to alter too much. But then it hit me. What does it have no short of? Ideas! Almost anything can happen in this game ya know? Now, screwing around with canon is one thing. But messing with it as a whole...**

**...now that's a whole new can of worms. Off we go! This is also my first attempt to write a first person story. There will, of course, be third-person increments as well, but Naruto's perspective will mostly be told in the first for this story after this chapter, unless I get a massive outpouring saying it should be otherwise. So...**

**...please be nice! On another note, there might be a few .Hack characters in this! And remember, I own nothing! To answer a question-yes, Laughing Coffin was founded early in this game. They've also been wiped out to the last man this time. No survivors. That's what happens when you cross Naruto lol. I've also made a change to the three sword bit. Too mainstream and already used. This is Naruto we're talking about. A shinobi he may be, but he's the very definition of overkill, is he not?**

**You'll soon see what I mean...**

_"I wiil find a way out. And when I do...I'm coming for you."_

_~?_

**Leader**

_By comparison to slaughtering an entire PK'ing guild, facing down the first boss was easy. Dealing with my growing group of friends? Talking with them? Laughing with them? Crying with them? _

_Learning to open myself -my heart- after locking it and throwing away the key, trying to feel again after so many years? You'd think, that in a game like Sword Art Online, where the impossible becomes possible, that would be a trivial task. I wasn't expecting the outcry that followed our one-handed slaughter of Laughing Coffin, nor could I predict the ripples of infamy that would catapault Asuna and I to near celebrity status, even back then. Would I go back and change things, if I could?_

_Not a chance..._

* * *

><p>"You're sure this information is accurate?"<p>

"Of course it is!" Came the reply. "C'mon, Naru-bou, you know I'd never sell you false intel~!"

"Because we're friends, or 'cuz ya know I'd hunt ya down for pranking me?"

She colored.

...erm, both?"

The ghost of a smile pulled at my whiskered face.

"Good answer."

This is Argo. Argo the Rat, as some called her. Another fellow beta-tester; another friend. I seem to have more and more of those, lately. Something I once feared, loathed, and abhorred, doesn't seem quite so dreadful anymore...although the fact that most of these friends happened to be women hadn't gone unnoticed. But back to what I was saying earlier.

Argo is a nimble-looking player who has browneyes and curly auburn hair. She wore full-body cloth and leather armour, a hooded cloak and also has whiskers on her face-originally a mark from a failed quest-but now a makeup of her choice. Her weapon of choice are a pair of nasty-looking claws, which she hangs at her left waist. She also uses Throwing Picks, which she hangs on her right waist. She's an information broker, someone who both buys and sells maps, data, and all manner of things, save the names of her fellow beta testers.

And she is, quite possibly, the strangest girl I've ever met.

"What's with that look?" I should've thanked her after that, dimissed her, and walked away. Instead, I made the mistake of holding my tongue. "Ohoho," her mousy face crinkled frowm a frown beneath my penetrating stare and warped into a cheeky grin. Eyes flashing, she put her hands on her hips and leaned forward a little, grinning beneath the shadows of her hood. "Finally thinking of asking me to be yer girl?"

_Urk._

See what I mean?!

Now it was I who flushed. Loneliness wasn't something I liked to admit, but I felt the keen jab nonetheless. Alone. Was I alone? Sure, I had a few friends but..._that?_ Real life was not a topic seldom broached in SAO-and the idea of romance was even more foreign. There were very few girls in the game as it were, and with the terror of being trapped in the game still so fresh in everyone's mind, few if any were pairing up. Grimacint at it-this foul thought that'd pierced the usually dense fog of my mind, I jerked my eyes back to my menu screen.

"D-Don't be ridiculous!"

"Hehe," she grinned, "You act all tough, but deep down you're really shy, aint'cha?"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

I felt the slightest of frowns crease my face as I re-read the data, scanning for any flaws, and finding none. Listed before me was the information on Illfang the Kobold Lord; the boss of the first floor whom we would be tackling in just a few short hours. Sadly, Alkaid was still nowhere to be seen.

"This isn't the beta." I said, closing the screen with a swipe of my fingers. "Its likely that he'll wield something other than a talwar. Perhaps another weapon entirely."

Argo blinked.

"What makes you say that?"

"Akihiko strikes me as the type who likes to surprise his victims-chances are that Illfang will be wielding a different weapon entirely once he gets into the red." Only a few days in, and I already had a fair idea of who "Akihiko" truly was. The number of my enemies stretched into the thousands back in the day; but, the only ones who actively knew of my immortality were few and far between. The men and women capable of such sinister strategies, as well as a knowledge of the clans from the Shinobi era, could be listed on the fingers of one hand. If it was even someone I knew at all. The idea that this might be a stranger, someone whom I'd never met, was...bothersome, to say the least.

"Neh, Naru-bou, maybe you should try forming a guild?"

There she went, throwing me off my pace again!

"Guild?" I blinked, trying to keep the distasteful expression off my face. "Why would I do that?" It sounded too much like a village for my liking. Something I wholeheartedly wanted to avoid. I wasn't capable of leading others. I was broken. I'd failed Konoha, stood by as Obito and Madara burned it to the ground. The idea of leadership was as anathema to me as a party was to Kirito. I didn't think I'd be able to handle losing anymore comrades than I already had. In my eye it didn't matter how many friends I had; just so long as I kept them alive.

"Baka~!" Argo sing-songed, as though sensing that very thought. "Why not? You've already got a huge following after what you did yesterday!" her elbow nudged me conspiratorilly. "Say, didn't that smith girl make those new knives for you?"

_"J-Just come here from now on, i-if you need anything. Alright?"_

"Well, yeah, but," I blanched helplessly at the memory of Lisbeth's words, my hand straying to the amber-colored daggers held in my belt. Liberators. She'd forged them for me as thanks for rescuing her from Laughing Coffin, despite my insincere sarcasm. They weren't the best weapons in my inventory-standing only a few points higher than the silver daggers I'd been wielding originally. But I could tell that she'd given it her all when she'd crafted them out of those ingots; pouring her heart and soul into these tiny blades. The rational part of me insisted they were nothing more than pixels and polygons in this deathgame, there was no way someone could leave a part of themselves behind in a weapon, no matter how real it might seem.

The other part...

Shaking that treacherous thought away from my brain proved easier said than done. I shot a glower at Argo, refusing to display my thoughts. She grinned.

"Of course, I'd tell you about the perfect piece of real estate...

My right eye twitched.

"For a small fee, of course."

"Naturally!"

"Cheapskate." I deadpanned.

She gave me a sneaky smile.

"Aw, you know we so well, Naru-bou!" Then she blinked, standing on her tiptoes. For a second, I thought she was going to try and flirt with me again. But no, she merely peered up and over my shoulder,

"Looks like you have company."

Someone poked my shoulder from behind.

"Naruto."

It was a woman's voice. There weren't many female players who would call me by name. Wait a second. Actually, there were. Alkaid, Kirito, Asuna, maybe even Lisbeth if she wasn't feeling cranky, but in this situation, there was only one. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was. Instead, I quickly grabbed the hand over my shoulder and spoke, smiling as I swiveled around.

"Caught me a redhead."

"Wh-What do you mean?" she asked, trying to retreat with her hand still clutched in mine. She only succeeded in tugging uselessly at her arm. My strength stat eclipsed hers by a wide margin; she couln't escape unless I let go. And I had no intention of doing that as I gazed upon her.

Hair red as fire, skin the color of alabaster, black leather armor that gleamed like enamel, two shortswords strapped at her back. My heard leapt at the sight of her. _Alkaid._ She'd come back. Without thinking I stepped forward yanked on her hand, pulling her into my chest with such force that she actually lost a little HP. "You idiot! Where the hell did you go?! Did you have any idea how worried I was?!"

Alkaid squeaked, squirming in my embrace. Then, realizing where she was, she went still. So did I, finally realizing my reckless actions. As one, we jerked backwards. As if we'd been _burned._ Perhaps we had. Argo gave a small laugh, concealed by the palm of her hand. Her eyes held mine, and I caught a tiny glimmer of understanding there, hidden in their dark depths. Then she spun on a heel.

"I'll leave him to you, Al-chan." she said, walking away. "Have fun, you two!"

"What?! Hey! Traitor!"

Alkaid did a little dance on her feet as the information broker departed, coloring to the roots of her scarlet hair. Then she seemed to remember I was there, and the angry demeanor vanished. She fidgeted restlessly as she turned towards me, wriggling beneath my gaze. When she finally spoke, her voice seemed to have jumped an entire octave.

"Sorry!" the word jumped from her lips, startling us both. "I didn't mean to run off like that, I just...aargh! Why did you do that, huh?!" Before I knew what was happening, she stepped forward and shoved me. I barely budged. She didn't seem to notice. "You can't just go up and hug random girls like that, baka!"

"Does it make you jealous?"

In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have said that. But I was still sore at her for simply leaving the party and vanishing without a trace. I didn't know that she'd gone to buy new weapons and armor; I'd been afraid of the worse case scenario. That she'd gotten herself killed.

"O-Of course not, baka! Its just weird!"

"I told you, last time was an exception-

"Suuuuuure," she drawled in sarcasm, every word dripping with derision. "An exception. Right, right. And now that _exception_ follows you around like a lost puppy!"

"Its not my fault!" My voice rose, anger warping my words as I loomed over her. "Would you rather I just left her like that?!"

"Maybe!"

Something snapped inside of me, blotting my vision with scarlet. I recalled Asuna's haunted gaze when I first met her. Then later, the pain, the tears in her eyes as she stared down at the shattering corpses of the men of Laughing Coffin. Her desolate expression as they vanished one by one from the world of SAO-and life itself-these murderous men and women she and I had killed. Orange players they might have been, but she'd still taken her fist life that day. I remembered holding her as she cried, whispering soft reassurances into her chestnut hair, telling her she'd done the right thing. That she wasn't a murderer.

And Alkaid was telling me I should've left her like that?

"NO!" I stepped forward, towering in my rage. "I will never, _ever,_ leave someone in need!" To my surprise, she was actually cowed.

"W-Well, maybe that's your problem!"

"Maybe its yours!"

"Baka!"

"Troublesome woman!" My voice rose, drowning her out. "Why do I put up with you?!"

"I have no idea!" she shouted back, her voice rising in a crescendo over mine.

"Gah, I hate this!"

"I HATE YOU MORE!"

The two of us flinched at the same time. Great. We were having the same arguement all over again. I realized that. So did she.

There was an awkward silence between us both.

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant." The Twinblade exhaled audibly and colored to the roots of her hair once more, her face turning a pretty pink. "Look, I'm _sorry_ I ran off okay?" she reiterated. "I...won't do it again, alright? _**However,"** _Just like that, the fire was back in her eyes, roaring high in defiance. "Just so you know I'm persistent," With those words she stepped forward and up stood upon her tiptoes. Her nose brushed mine like the touch of a delicate fower, her breath warm on my face. The subtle scent of sweat and lilacs filled my nose; it was a heady, intoxicating mix. "And I never, ever give up."

...hai?" I blinked as she stepped backward, flushing. I was thoroughly, hopelssly, terribly confused.

What came next baffled me even more.

Someone tugged on my sleeve.

"Naruto-kun."

I blinked, noticing Alkaid shooting ramrod straight in the corner of my eye. Was it just my imagination, or did a scowl darken the corner of her mouth? Did her hand twitch toward her sword? At the time, I was sure I'd simply imagined it. Looking back, I find it all funny. She _was_ jealous. And who could blame her?

I found myself staring back at a small, cherubic face; one I knew all too well. Pleasingly enough, she had divested herself of the cloak since I'd seen her last, her red-white light armor full exposed to the light of day-her chestnut hair forming a loose curtain behind her back. A small, confused smile pulled at my lips.

"Asuna-san?"

She didn't let go of my sleeve.

"We're about to hit the boss." she said." I came to get you."

"Shit, is it time already?"

She nodded, a swift, jerky bob that sent her hair bouncing. "Diavel-san gave me a corridor crystal, so we won't have to walk." My eyes widened slightly. Corridor crystals were rare teleportations crystals; allowing for a set destination to be programmed on the other end. You could only get one from a rare drop or in one of the more expensive shops. It wasn't cheap but it'd save us a large amount of potions if we simply arrived before the boss's doorstep. Even so, to just toss one of those out straight out of the gate-

"...rty with me?"

"Hai?" I blinked, coming back to myself.

Asuna colored visibly. "I-I asked if you'd form a party with me, again."

"Together?"

She gave my hand a tentative squeeze.

...yes. Together."

"Well, sure." I shrugged, not seeing the harm of something so innocuous as a party request. "I don't mind-

"HEY!" Alkaid, pushed to her limit, chose that moment to barge between the two of us. "What about me?"

"What about you?" Asuna blinked, as though only just now noticing the redhead. Perhaps she had. "Are you a friend of Naruto-kun's?"

"Ara? I'm certain I know him better than you." she snapped, voice dripping with vitriol. Before I could stop her, she grabbed hold of my arm. "And he's forming a party with_ me. _Tough luck."

"I asked first." Asuna tugged me back towards her by the hand. Alkaid sputtered.

"I knew him first!" she shot back.

"Me."

"Me!"

_"ME."_

"RELAX!" I cried out with a gasp, fearing they might tug my arms off altogether. "I'll form a party with both of you, so calm down!" A quick downward swipe of my fingers made it so. Alkaid gave an exasperated grunt, one that Asuna mirrored with eerily similarity. They glared bloody red daggers at one another, sparks shooting from their eyes. With a simultaneous "hmmph!" they spun away from one another, leaving me wondering what the hell'd I had gotten myself into.

Little did I know, but they'd just declared war on one another.

* * *

><p><em>"Alkaid! Asuna! Switch!"<em>

I stepped back, retreating as my party members swarmed forward to fill the gap I'd left for them. Alkaid short forward like an arrow loosed from a bow; Asuna jolting into the fray like a bolt of lightning. Like a flash. In an instant they were at the front lines and I was at the back, allowing me a much-needed opportunity for my skills to cool down. I cast a glance back at the rest of the raiding party; we'd had a surprisingly large turnout given the fact that most of us were beta-testers.

Ruin Kobold Sentinels swarmed around us, shrieking and crying out. In the distance, the boss howled in anger.

Illfang the Kobold Lord looked much the same as he had during the beta; a massive red kobold with an axe and buckler, bearing four bars of hit points. I was content to let Diavel organize the group; I wasn't keen on a leadership role. Better that no one knew of my secret than I distinguish myself. Of course, that was my initial thought; but, once the battle began, all thoughts of restraint fell to the wayside. I fought with a ferocity that made others cringe, my daggers carving crimson streaks into my enemies with an almost reckless abandon.

One swat from Kirito's sword sent one sprawling, from mine, another. Behind us another guarded our flank, his silver hair dancing as his lithe body

_Haseo._

He called himself an Adept Rogue-despite their being no such class in the game-someone who specialized in wielding three different weapons. Not at once, of course. That was impossible. Currently, he favored a large broadsword, its spiny edge cutting large swathes in the enemy ahead of him. The five of us, possessing the highest levels, were leading the charge, the rest of Diavel and Kibaou-annoying little fuck!-providing support when our skills needed to cool down.

Slowly but surely, we whittled its health down to the last bar. Illfang yowled and tossed its weapons aside, reaching for the shadowy shape on its back. I tensed. Now I would learn if my suspicions were correct. If that was indeed a talwar, I had little to fear. But if it wasn't-

"Stay back! I'll finish it!"

Diavel answered that question for me, darting forward as Illfang reached for its secondary weapon. I recognized it immediately.

I wanted to reach out and slap him. I almost did. The fucker was going for the last hit. But what he didn't realize-what I'd failed to mention-was that the Kobold wasn't wielding a talwar. It was a nodachi. Kirito must've realized it at the same time; because a cry rang out a split second before mine.

"Don't!"

"Idiot, step back!"

Diavel heeded our warning too late; one heavy blow sent his HP into the red zone, and another finished it off completely. I saw Kirito dive towards him as he toppled to the ground in a heap, immediately dismissing the boss in favor of the fallen."What are you doing?!" I shouted at her, suddenly finding myself alone against the sentinels. "He's already dead! Get back over here!" My focus shifted, locking onto Kirito. Just for a second-

That was all it took.

A loud clang greeted my ears; then something flung Asuna into me. The impact sent us both sprawling, depleting a fourth of my hit points. She tumbled off of me with a groan, her health flashing into the yellow zone. I felt a glimmer of relief that she was still alive. Unfortunately, it was short-lived.

That was when I saw Alkaid. My Search skill wasn't very high, but I could just make her out across the boss's-chamber, lying sprawled at The Illfang's feet, struggling to rise up and move. She had only a third of her hit points remaining, the red color a silent wanring as to what would happen if she took another hit. Somehow, her eyes met mine, even as her body was swallowed up by the shadow of the beast's blade.

In that insant, a thousand words seemed to pass between us. Only one stood out.

_Sorry._

As my mind raced, time seemed to slow. Alkaid wasn't going to make it in time. Another hit would kill her. Death. Had I my real body, that wouldn't have been a problem; I'd revived countless lives this way. But within this world there could be no revival without a special item, one I, and the other clearers lacked. She was going to die. A cold dread trailed its fingers down my neck. No.

_**"ALKAID!"**_

There was no hesitation; my body simply moved. In that instant, I surpassed the system's speed. I didn't so much move as I did vanish. I blinked. As though reacting to my will, my body shot forward; an arrow loosed from finely drawn bow. One moment I was standing across the chamber screaming at Alkaid to move, the next; I was standing between her and certain death, swalllowed by shadow. Kobold Lord's weapon was bearing down at me with frightening speed. No time to move. Nothing to do but shoulder her out of the way and hope to hell I could block.

My left hand rose-trading my silver knives for the amber colored Liberator's Lisbeth had made for me. The chances of stopping a strike like this were minute at best but I tried anyway. _If I don't, who will?_ No one. I was the only one who could do this...I had to do this...

Pain exploded in my head, like a thousand flares bursting in my brain.

_Clang._

And then, to my great surprise, it worked. A trickle of strength flooded into my body from nowhere, momentarily sending my strength stat through the roof. The boss staggered backward, momentarily replused by what should have been a weak defense. I thought I caught a glimmer of confusion in its beady eyes.

I fought down a smile; realizing what had happened. Chakra -my chakra?!- from my real body, had found its way through the brain-distancing waves of the game and find its way to me. The Ten-Tails still existed within my physical body after all. I'd had centuries to tame and make it my ally. Perhaps it had sensed my moment of duress and tried to help me in the only way it knew how, sending chakra surging through my brain. That'd explain the headache, the crippling pain in my limbs.

I was defying the System. And I was paying the price.

I barked out a harsh laugh at the thought, using the last of my newfound strength to lunge at my foe in an explosive burst of speed. It was just a touch-lasting for all of an instant and fading even as I looked on-but the temporary increase was all I needed. I lunged forward with a howl, discarding my knives and equpping a greatsword in midlunge. Anothe rarer perk of being a shinobi; you could change weapons instantly, with virtually no lag or penalty. My weapon of choice wasn't a very sturdy weapon; shattering in my hands even as I slammed its bronze edge into the Kobold's belly. I didn't care. It had served its purpose, staggering my foe.

_Fast._

Liberator danced in my hands once again as I cast the disintegrating weapon aside with a flick, the twin knives flashing like greased lightning as I struck. I couldn't stop. If I stopped I was dead. She was dead. Everyone would be dead. Ennervation crept into my body, exhaustion sinking tiny insidious fingers of doubt into my veins. I ignored it.

_Faster._

No pain. Only the enemy. Only the blade. Only the offense. There was no try. Only do.

_Fastest._

My mind blurred as I weaved in and out and around those deadly sweeps; never resting, always striking, always attacking, the very boundaries of the game seeming to come apart in my peripheals. There was no usage of system or swords skills. No pretense of defense. I simply attacked. The sheer ferocity of my assaullt drove the boss on its back foot, until it was desperately trying to weather the storm behind its giant blade. Looking back it was probably foolish of me to press on with such aggression but in that instant, seeing Alkaid sprawled out there at my feet, I knew I couldn't-wouldn't-allow her to die.

_I didn't want her to die._

"Gwoooooaaaah!"

The boss roared and swung down at me with its nodachi, trying to squash me flat. Too slow. Agility was my highest stat; in the time it took for it to swing the longsword down at me like a club, I'd already leapt upward in a streak of blue to meet it. Sonic Leap. A skill that allowed a player to shoot upward in a rising attack. And I did just that. But instead of taking the attack head on, I alighted on its edge. For a terrifying instant I was motionless, crouched there, knives drawn and gleaming behind my back. It thrashed around, trying to shake me free from the sword and cut me apart; against any other character, it would've succeeded.

But I had something possessed only by a few other beta-testers. Chakra. With that chakra, at the cost of a few hit points, I glued my feet to the blade. Became part of it, for so long as I was willing to sacrifice HP for a boost in traction. I didn't care that in doing so I essentially revealed myself as a beta-tester; all that mattered was that _I killed this fucker._

Not again, I resolved to myself, staring it down. I wouldn't let someone die on my watch.

The blade slammed down on me as I leapt away. Pain flashed through me. I ignored it. Wouldn't lose anyone. Couldn't.

Never again.

I knew the Kobold Lord was nothing more than an AI wrapped in data and pixles but I thought I saw a glimmer of hate behind those eyes, felt its malice as its teeth parted, maw rippling in a furious snarl. I roared back, my voice rising in a bestial howl all its own, the twin words of a single, solitary command filling my mind. I short forward, declaring my attack-though uneccessary-with a savage crosscut to the chest, punctuated by the up and down vertical slice across its portly stomach, leaving it reeling.

"Knife! Blitz!"

Illfang staggered, stunned just for a moment. Perhaps it knew it was about to die; that I was about to kill it. Maybe, in that last, fleeting instant, it felt fear. Whatever it was, it hesitated. That was all it took.

Then I unleashed hell.

Knife Blitz, a relatively unimpresive, un-shinobi-like skill that hints at what happens next; overwhelming your adversary with a series of swift, savage stabs. Its only a three hit skill. But its true power lay in its potential to combo; that is, to chain a series of strikes together for increasing damage. When you connect with Knife Blitz-even if its just one hit-the damage for each attack will be increased exponentially by a multiplier, two for each successive hit. This skill had resonated with me since the beta, and I'd worked hard to master the many uses it might have in combat.

I think we've established that, even at my low level, I was a master at combinations. I'd landed all three hits, and was riding a wave of pure rage and adrenaline, my stamina soaring high. Each strike landed now would possesin eighteen times the damage that it had before, and that only increased as I rained down blows on the belligerent beast. End result?

I tore Illfang apart.

We ripped into one another, the boss giving as good as it got; but I didn't stop. Couldn't. My knives sank into its stomach, shot upward towards its head, streaming scarlet pixels as they went. Pain flashed through me once more, but I barely felt it. There was only the fight. Only the victory.

_"Seya!"_

Its head rolled forth from its shoulders toppling to the ground, where it shattered in a sea of pixels. The rest of its body soon followed-its corpulent form falling to the ground and dissolving into a sea of light. Experience flooded my screen, leveling me up twice in an instant. Then, before our very eyes, a series of large purple letters formed where Illfang had fallen. I'd never been so happy to see them in all my life.

_CONGRATULATION! BOSS CLEARED!_

Cries of joyous disbelief went up from the raiding party, some slumping to the floor in exhaustion, others wept. I sheathed my knives, eyes rising to my own health bar. A tiny glimmer of red stared back at me. A laugh tore out of my throat. I had exactly one hit point left. Another hit, and, ten innocents would've died. For my stupidity. I chuckled bitterly. I could barely recognize my own mortality, the senselessness of it all. Then, my legs gave out. Someone caught me.

Soft arms encircled me from behind, pulling me into a lap. Through a crimson haze, I caught sight of scarlet tresses. A healing crystal was pressed to my chest, a tearful, frantic voice exclaiming:

"Heal!"

My vision cleared, exposing Alkaid teary face hanging above me. Despite my better judgement, I grinned.

"Yo." I coughed. "You're alive, right? Because I'd hate for this to be a dream after all I-

_Whap!_

Alkaid slapped me. Hard. My head snapped to the right with a grimace. Good thing she'd healed me. All around us the chamber had gone dark, the lights fading with the death of the boss and his sentinels. But before I had a chance to speak, she spoke for me.

"Why did you do that?"

"Dunno...guess I just couldn't let you die...

Asuna found us in the next instant; crowding to bury her head into my chest seconds later. I froze up, stiffening as her hair tickled at my nose; the soft sound of her sobs slowly trickling into my ears. Soft. But I daren't say such a thing after the beating I'd taken. Numbly, stiffly, I patted her on the head. It only made things worse.

"You...reckless idiot!" she sniffled. "Stupid! Baka! Baka baka baka baka...

"Gomen." I muttered into her hair, her words trailing off into a soft cry. "I was reckless."

"Damn straight you were."

I glanced up to find Haseo-reclusive, anti-social, leave me the hell alone Haseo-glaring down at me. His tan and black armor had taken a bad beating since I'd seen him last; but it'd done nothing to queel his anger. An emotion somewhere between pride and fury twisted his visage. He hummphed and looked away even as I tried to formulate a reply, leaving me shaking my head.

"Stupid," someone else muttered.

Then I noticed Kirito. Her expression warred with her typical aloof nature, more shock than anything else, startled by my ferocity. I didn't blame her. Or them. These were my friends, after all. Ha. Friends. I'd fought to keep myself distant to others, but I always seemed to get sucked into their own pace...

"He did it!" A cry went up!

"That guy took down the boss!"

"Just who the hell is he?"

I took a long moment to listen to the rest of the raiding parties, basking in their cheers. It was a relief. I'd done something. Something good. Although the idea of bonds still terrified me, I felt that anxiety subside-ever so slightly-as I gazed upon the lives of the players I'd saved. They were alive because of me. Because of us. Perhaps I wouldn't make such a bad leader after all. A small smile fell across my face. I opened my mouth so speak-

_"Why?"_

-and the words turned to ash on my tongue.

A pall fell over the group.

The crowd parted, exposing Kibaou, on his knees. Tears gleamed in the eyes of the spikey-haired player.

"Why did you let Diavel die?!"

I rose slowly, giving him an odd look, ignoring Asuna's attempt to keep me on the ground. His demand made no sense.

"Let him die?" my blank tone caused them to back away. They knew me better than I knew myself; they knew what was coming.

"Of course!" he cried, thrusting a finger at me. "You knew the last technique that the boss used! If you'd told us about that up front, the boss wouldn't have died!" I saw the realization dawn in his beady little eyes as I picked myself up, standing slowly, woodenly. "You-you damned beta tester!" the swordsman continued to rant as I began walking towards him, heedless of the danger. "You knew all the boss's attack patterns, yet you didn't tell us anything! Neither did you!" He leered at Kirito. "I bet those other four are beta-testers too-

_Thwack._

I walked over to him.

Then I hit him.

_Hard._

My fist found his face almost before I knew what was happening, my strength stat catapaulting him backwards with a devastating hit. The blow took a fifth of his hit points and tossed him backwards. I lowered my arm, glowering. Kibaou scrambled upward, clutching at his dented cheek as though it were made of glass.

"W-What the hell was that for?!"

"He was the idiot who charged in alone!" I growled, a touch of killer intent suffusing his tone. Leech. Parasite. Worm. He blamed others for everything that befell him, yet never took responsibility. He was no better than that damned feudal lord I'd once served in the elemental nation. "Did it ever occur to you he might be a beta tester too?! Yet he took responsiblity for you lot, sheltered you-willingly gave you information-and led you to this very point! You demean his death with your words. And us!" I gestured to myself, Alkaid, Haseo, and Kirito. "We came here to help you win, and you accuse us of letting him die?!"

Just like that, the tension, so angry and thick, changed.

"He's right...

"They did fight for us...

"Maybe they're not so bad after all...

My blade, once sheathed, flashed out at Kibaou's throat.

"Get out of my sight, leech. If you value your life."

Fumbling with a teleport crystal, he gated before I could make good on my threat.

I selected the item, Coat of Midnight, considering it for a moment. Nah. Black wasn't my style. Then I manipulated it in my inventory and sent it off.

"Here."

"E-Eh?" Kirito blanched as it appeared amongst her items. "Why are you giving me this?"

"I don't want it."

Without another word, I turned and strode away. "You guys coming?"

There was a collective silence. Finally, Asuna broke it.

...what do you mean?"

"We've got work to do."

* * *

><p><em>Another month passed.<em>

_In those thirty days, a glimmer of relief arose amongst the players. The first floor boss was dead. The game could be beaten. Suddenly there was hope. A candle lit in the dark. More and more high-level players began to pop up; some of them were even former beta-testers, like me. __And one of the first guilds sprang up. It started with a core group of only a few players, but within a week, its memberhip numbered in the dozens. By the time half a year was out, they numbered in the hundreds. The name of this guild, you ask?_

_Hokage. In literal english, it meant Fire Shadow._

_It was my guild._

_And in that guild, I met the most shy, seemingly hopeless girl..._

* * *

><p>"Ano...<p>

Sachi watched him nervously, trying not to cower behind her shield as he instructed her for what felt like the umpteenth time. "Are you sure I'm doing this right?"

"It's simple," he said. "Now, I could show you how I usually work, with stealth and a single kunai, but hey, where's the fun in that?" A finger swiped at the air, manipulating his menu. "Alright, lets see here; one of you, and some of this, a little of that...oh," he turned towards her, smiling sheepishly. "Keep this a secret, will ya? I don't want anyone to know about it, yet."

With a flicker of pixels a sword appeared.

Naruto quietly tapped the edge of his blade against a boot. Flicking his fingers, he palmed one blade to his hand, then another. Slowly-lazily-he opened his mouth and placed a third within, his teeth biting down against the leather hilt, holding it cross his body in a horizontal weave. His hands flicked twice more summoning another pair of blades to his already full hands. But instead of simply clutching them, he shifted the hilts to each other, one between each knuckle, three for a hand. Like the claws of a dragon, she thought to herself, staring at the gleaming red steel in either hand.

She counted six in all.

Seven, when one counted that blade in his mouth. That shouldn't be possible. As if he were defying the system itself. Yet a few swipes of his blades showed that they glowed with swords skills, deepn, ebon and orange streaks lghting his katana as he swung them, adjusting the blades, until he felt comfortable. Swords skills. So the system _did_ recognize it...

With a start, she realized what she was looking at.

His own Unique skill for the game. _Nantoryu_. That is, _seven_ sword technique. Not a shinobi skill but something far deadlier. An elite sword skill, probably the only one in the game. And this one belonged to him. No one knew just how you acquired a Unique Skill; you simply did. With that many blades, she had no doubt that the blond was capable of inflicing an obscene amount of damage. Azure eyes swept across the field, targeting a nearby monster. Hollow eyes of bone turned to regard him. Naruto growled.

"See," he began slowly, words muffled by the hilt, "Don't do everything yourself. Just line up the motion, let the system take over and_...KAPOW!"_

His katana flashed a violent shade of violet, his body flying into the skill as he pounded down the unlucky dead. Three strikes. Vertical square. Then Horizontal. As he reamed into the beast it tried to strike down; only to find itself bissected by the trio of blads raining down on it. That was all it took-then the monster shattered into angry red pixels. Sheathing his blades as one he turned to his charge-grinning like a chesire cat. Sachi colored. Being part of-working with-a guild was proving to be an...interesting experience.

"Ready?"

She gulped, regarding another of the eerie creatures in the maze. "I-I don't know. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course it is! C'mon, get in there!" A swat on her back sent her stumbling forward.

"Alright-eep!"

One hit from the monster slashed her HP in half and knocked her flat on her back. Sighing, the Undying strode forward and dispatched it with a swift swing of his blade. Naruto cringed as he tossed her a healing crystal, restoring her hit points once more.

"Well, that could've gone better.

"Sumimasen...

The blond laughed quietly; it was a quiet croak of a sound.

"Sachi...what am I going to do with you?"

**A/N: Its been awhile, h****asn't it? I've been pestered for ages, to do this, haven't I? And yes, for those of you familiar with .Hack GU, Alkaid is in this story. I sincerely hope that isn't a problem? As a another note, if you're wondering about Naruto's armor, for now, its a variation of the Anbu attire, only orange. He'll get better equiptment-and plenty of girls!-as time drags on. I want to try and make this as real as possible, no leaping into relationships straight away. Naruto's essentialy forgotten what it means to love; and he'll be forced to relearn that emotion as he goes on...**

**...and ah, what a story this'll be!**

**Just in case ya'll are wondering about my intentions to update this story, rest assured I plan to stick to this and them all! I'm sure many of you have seen my most recent update for the Crimson Prince, after all. That's right, baby! I'm back, all healed up, and ready to update my fics to your heart's content. If there are any particular ones ya'll want update, feel free to give me a shout! So that now its been said...**

**So...in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...Review...Would You Kindly...? Should Naruto work with others, or be forced to slog all the way through on his own? And of course, enjoy the preview! Remember, if you're not at least familiar with Sword Art Online, you'll be hopelessly confused! The preview is in third person for now! Fair warning...ITS SAD!**

**(Preview)**

_Naruto felt his jaw click open wordlessly. A lone tear rolled from his eye. He struggled to speak, but his tongue defied him. The body in his arms began to shimmer, wavering, so much like her smile. No matter how hard he tried to hold ont her, she only seemed to become more and more insubstantial. Her health plunged from green to yellow. Then red. Then...it vanished. He clamored for a potion, realizing too late he had none. Before his very eyes she began to fracture, coming apart at the seams. Words finally found him. But it was only one._

_"No," he changed the word over and over like a mantra. "No, no, no."_

_Numbly, her lips parted._

_"Hey."_

_He choked, holding her hand so tightly he thought it would shatter. "Hey..._

_"Naruto," she whispered, her eyes turning glassy. Empty. A hand rose, fumbling fingers cupping at his cheek. "I'm sorry..._

_"Don't be sorry," he held tight to her, as though his arms could somehow keep her from falling apart. "Please don't be sorry."_

_...kay." she murmurred softly. Her eyes rolled upward, staring at the stars. "They're so pretty. I'm glad I got to see them with you."_

_"Oi, don't talk like that. You'll be fine." He cursed himself, the tears rolling down his cheeks. "Just hold on a little longer."_

_She looked up at him with such adoration that his heart threatened to burst. Still, she smiled._

_"I love y-_

_Then her body shattered into a thousand shards of glass taking her words with it. Exploding before his very eyes._

_She was gone..._

_GONE._

**R&R! =D**


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